’Grilling’ headline writers
Miisleading headlines lead to confusing coverage of Satyam scandal. The manner in which the Hyderabad-based English dailies dealt with stories relating to the recent fraud in the
The Readers Editor of The Hindu in his Monday column, (Jan 19), recalled his earlier defence of the sub-editor in describing his job, "Noble but thankless, with no glory or praise". Understandably, there was a sharp reaction to this from a reporter, who quoted from a report, "Sickness behind headlines" pointing to ruthless cuts in articles, and misleading headlines.
This concern about how editorial deletions can lead to factual errors in an article, has resulted in an intense debate generated by the report on the arrest of Satyam founder and Chairman, B Ramalinga Raju. Did Mr. Raju surrender before the director general of police in the latter’s high security office, or was he arrested? Neither the chief minister, nor the state home minister chose to clarify this dichotomy. In fact, their statements contradicted each other. This may, perhaps, have been done deliberately to confuse the issue. The result was that news reports reflected this confusion. In all fairness, the media pointed out the holes in the surrender-arrest drama. "Does every suspect go to the top brass of the police to surrender?" was the line behind every story.
Subsequent presentations of the story appeared directionless and bizarre. However, none of them carried any misleading headlines. A recurring clichéd headline used consistently by the dailies was, "CID grill Satyam brothers", or variations of this. We were told the Satyam brothers were "grilled" for 18 hours on the very first day they surrendered/arrested. However, credit must go the New Indian Express for having clarified the nature of the "grilling".
Judging from newspaper reports, the police used methods of interrogation that leave their modus operandi open to question. As reported in the press, the procedures followed this line: "Okay, tell us something about the fraud and how it happened? Start with your name, age, native place… when you floated the company… and related details"...."After he drove in (in a convoy of Mercedes Benzes and BMWs), he was seated in the conference hall, offered glass of water and made comfortable. For nearly two hours, he was left pretty much to himself even as there was hectic discussion among a group of officials as to what he was to be asked. Finally, a lower rung employee with sheets of plain paper and a pen sat down too, as if to take notes: ‘ Tell us how it all happened, but start with your name’..."
The headlines lead us to believe that this was a ‘grilling’. Interestingly, the same New Indian Express which carried this inside story continued the "grilling" headline on subsequent days. After the Raju brothers were sent to police custody ,it was the turn of the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) to ‘grill’ the suspects. What their knowledge was of corporate (mis)governance or the complexities of auditing is a different story, since SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) was not allowed to join the interrogators. However, NIE’s ( New Indian Express) headline was, "CID sleuths grill Raju brothers on Day 2" (Jan 20), with a contradictory blurb for the story, "Ramalinga Raju remained silent to many questions that all he knew was mentioned in his e-mail to SEBI".
While reporting on the first day’s questioning, the NIE headline was, "CID warms up with routine queries", but the text could not avoid the repeated use of the word "grilling". We learn that the Raju brothers were grilled for less than an hour, while the CFO ( Chief Financial Officer), Srinivas Vadlamani, was questioned for about 30 minutes. Again, the questions related to basic personal information: name, father’s name, education, etc. Reporting on the fourth day of the Raju brothers’ incarceration, NIE continued its "grilling" headline. "CID seeks to grill Raju further" (Jan 22). But the lead of the story pointed out that after four days of "grilling" of the three accused..."CID seems to be going nowhere with its investigation". Perhaps we need to tell the lexicographers to change the meaning of "grilling" in their next edition!
In other Hyderabad-based dailies too, the popular choice of word for the interrogations was the word was "grilling". The Times of
In a massive financial fraud like Satyam, with intense political overtones, can we expect the police to change its methods and not leak stories as they did in the Arushi Talwar murder case in NOIDA, or the investigations into the 2008 bombings in Malegaon, a town in the Nashik district? The Hindu, quoting top police sources, reported that Raju, "confessed to have diverted funds from the company to two other entities, Maytas Properties and Maytas Infra, promoted by his sons", ("Raju admits to fund diversion"). The Times countered it with the headline, "Raju’s counsel dismisses ‘confession’ talk". According to Raju’s counsel, "If that is what the police is claiming, it is wrong. If the police claim is true, this is in sharp contrast to his earlier claim that he had shown inflated bank balances".
The next day, The Hindu, true to its old tradition, quoted the chief minister on diversion of funds from Satyam to Maytas, carrying alongside another report from Maytas, denying diversion of funds from Satyam. Is this an exercise in objective reporting, or an exercise to confuse the readers?
I am driven to this conclusion because The Times, after carrying too many "grilling" reports, surmised that the entire interrogation was a joke. This is The Times report on Jan 22: "Were Ramalinga Raju’s interrogators cracking the Rs 7800-crore fraud case or cracking jokes?" Why did the reporter think so? Read on. "At the CID office, where the disgraced chairman of Satyam was being ‘interrogated’, peals of laughter were heard on Wednesday. This seems strange because one would imagine that the investigators would be racing against time, and would be trying their best to extract the most on the fourth and final day of Raju’s custody instead of guffawing". Did you notice the single quote for ‘interrogated’? Obviously, the reporter was not convinced that it was an interrogation. But the problem is, the Raju brothers continue to be "grilled" everyday, apparently only in the headlines. And the "sickening headlines" continue too. Incidentally, the word "disgraced" seems to have become an adhesive since it is repeatedly attached to, and prefaces Ramalinga Raju whenever his name is mentioned by the print media.
The entire coverage of the Satyam scandal in the English print media in
For an apt punchline for this piece, I may borrow the headline from the Deccan Chronicle, "Parekh (a director of the newly constituted Satyam Board) loses cool, blames media for complications". Well, I have no quarrel with this headline!!